Abstract The interannual variability and the mechanisms controlling the dissolved oxygen concentration in the Mediterranean Sea were investigated through generating gridded fields of dissolved oxygen, salinity and potential temperature. The Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA) software was used to produce a gridded dataset for the time period 1960–2011. High oxygen concentrations for the upper and bottom layers, separated by an oxygen minimum zone at intermediate layers, are a typical structure of the dissolved oxygen in the Eastern and the Western Mediterranean sub-basins. Although an oxygen minimum zone is observed in both sub-basins, its vertical positions are different; in the Eastern Mediterranean at between 600 and 1200 m depth and in the Western Mediterranean at between 400 and 600 m. The vertical distribution of dissolved oxygen shows significant differences between the two sub-basins and their temporal evolution reveals large interannual to decadal variability. A negative correlation was observed between dissolved oxygen and surface potential temperature due to solubility changes over the whole period. However, the positive correlation between the dissolved oxygen and potential temperature in the Eastern Mediterranean deep layers is an indication that the dynamical processes are dominant and are involved in the dissolved oxygen interannual variability. The dissolved oxygen variability presents shifts with a multi-decadal signal, rather than trends as observed in the global ocean, associated with mixing processes and decadal oscillations that influence the dense water formation or biological activity.

中文翻译：

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地中海中溶解氧的变化

摘要 通过生成溶解氧、盐度和位温的网格场，研究了地中海地区溶解氧浓度的年际变化及其控制机制。数据插值变异分析 (DIVA) 软件用于生成 1960-2011 年期间的网格数据集。上层和底层氧浓度高，中间层有氧最低区隔开，是东地中海和西地中海子盆地溶解氧的典型结构。虽然在两个子流域都观察到最低氧带，但其垂直位置不同；在东地中海在 600 和 1200 m 之间，在西地中海在 400 和 600 m 之间。溶解氧的垂直分布在两个子流域之间显示出显着差异，并且它们的时间演变显示出较大的年际到年代际变化。由于整个时期的溶解度变化，在溶解氧和表面电位温度之间观察到负相关。然而，东地中海深层溶解氧与位温之间的正相关表明动力过程占主导地位并参与溶解氧年际变化。溶解氧的变化呈现出具有多个年代际信号的变化，而不是在全球海洋中观察到的趋势，与影响稠密水形成或生物活动的混合过程和年代际振荡相关。